F E S T I V A L ／ FEST-105
Kinugawa Onsen Shōfuku Oni Festival
鬼怒川温泉 招福鬼まつりきぬがわおんせん しょうふくおにまつり
Across the month of February, the hot-spring town of Kinugawa Onsen inverts the conventional Setsubun custom by welcoming demons rather than expelling them. Where most Japanese households chant 'demons out, fortune in,' here the cry is reversed: 'demons in, fortune in.' The reversal draws on a local etymological tradition that reads the place-name Kinugawa — written with characters meaning 'angry demon river' — as evidence that the demons of this valley are themselves bringers of fortune. Throughout the month, the spa district is decorated with masks, red lanterns, and sculptural figures of the mascot Kinuta, and on Setsubun weekend a small fireworks display is launched from the river gorge. Although the festival is a relatively recent invention of the 1990s — originally devised by the local inn association to revive off-season tourism — it draws on older minority traditions, found also at Yoshino in Nara and Kiryū in Gunma, where demons are addressed as ambivalent benefactors rather than as objects of expulsion.
H I G H L I G H T S
Highlights
- 01'Demons in' bean throwing: a complete inversion of the standard Setsubun chant, with locals and guests welcoming demons into the shopping streets and inns
- 02Encounters with Kinuta the demon mascot: statues and costumed performers of the town's red-skinned demon figure appear throughout the hot-spring district
- 03Demon fireworks: red-tinted fireworks are launched from the banks of the Kinugawa river on Setsubun weekend, weather permitting